ft sSBg ilBflMSKnP i fw I Af jfr 5 I - - H6e Bondman By HALL CAINE j i 11 c r - t - SkSsS i Continued Story SxxSsxSxSxxSxxSx And vhen all was over she swept the people out of the room with a wave of her hand and fell back to the bol ster - Then Greeba thinking it a favor able moment to plead for her father mentioned his name and eyed her mother anxiously Mrs Fairbrother seemed not to hear at first and being pressed she answered wrathfully say ing she had no pity for her husband and that not a penny of her money should go to him But late the same day after the doctor who had been sent for from Douglas had wagged his head and made a rueful face over her she called for her sons and they came and stood about her and Greeba who had nurs ed her from the beginning was also by her side Boys sne said between fits of pain keep the land together and dont separate and mind you bring no women here or youll fall to quarrel ing and if any of you must marry let him have his share and go Dont forget the heifer thats near to calv ing and see that you fodder her every night Fetch the geese down from Barrule at Martinmas and count the sheep on the mountains once a week for the people of Maughold are the worst thieves in the island They gave her their promise duly to do and not to do what she had named and being little used to such scenes they grew uneasy and began to shamble out And boys another thing she said faintly stretching her wrinkled hand across the counterpane give the girl her rights and let her marry whom she will This also they promised her and then she thinking her duty done as an honest woman toward man and the world but recking nothing of higher obligations lay backward with a groan Now it did not need that the -men should marry in order that they might quarrel for hardly was the breath out of their mothers body when they set to squabbling without any woman to help them Asher grumpled that Thurstan was drunken Thurstan grumbled that Asher was lazy Asher retorted that being the eldest son if he had his rights he would have every foot of the land and Ross and Stean arose in fury at the bare thought of either being hinds on their brothers farm or else taking the go by at his hands So they quarreled until Jacob said there was plainly but one way of peace between them and that was to apportion the land into equal parts and let every man take his share and then the idleness of Asher and the drunkenness of Thurstan would he to each man his own affpir At that they remembered that the lands of Lague then the largest estate on the north of the island had once been made up of six separate farms with a house to each of them though five of the six houses had long stood empty And seeing that there were just six of themselves it seemed as Jacob said as if Providence had so appointed things to see them out of their diffi culty But the farms though of pret ty equal acreage were of various qual ity of land and therein the quarreling set in afresh Ill take Ballacraine said Thurs tan No -but Ill take it said Jacob for Ive always worked the mead ows In the end they cast lots and then each man having his farm assigned to him all seemed to be settled when Asher cried iBht what about the girl At that they looked stupidly into each others faces for never once in all their bickering had they given a thought to Greeba But Jacobs re source was not yet at an end for he suggested that Asher should keep her nt Lague and at harvest the other five should give her something and that her keep and their gifts together should be her share and if she had all she needed what more could she wish They did not consult Greeba on this head and before she had time to pro test they were in the thick of a fresh dispute among themselves The mead ow lands of Ballacraine had fallen to Jacob after all while Thurstan got the high and stony lands of Ballafayle at the foot of Barrule Thurstan was Jess than satisfied and remembering that Jacob had drawn out the papers for the lottery he suspected cheating So he -made himself well and thor oughly drunk at the Hibernian and set off for Ballacraine to argue the question out He found Jacob in no snood for words of recrimination and so he proceeded to thrash him and to turn him off the fat lands and settle himself upon them Then there was great commotion among the Fairbrcthers and each of the other four took a side in the dis pute The end of it all was a trial for ejectment at Deemsteers court at Ramsey and another for assault and battery The ejectment came first and Thurstan was ousted and then six men of Maughold got up in the jurors box to try the charge of assault There iwas little proof but a multitude of witnesses and before all were heard the Deemster adjourned the court for lunch and ventilation for the old court house had became poisonous with the reeking Dreath of the people that crowded It And the jury being free to lunch where they pleased each of the par ties to the dispute laid hold of his man and walked him off by himself jto persuade him also to treat him and perhaps to bribe him Thus Thurstan was at the Saddle Inn with o juryman on either hand and Jacob was at the Plough with as many by ihis side and Ross and Stean had one each at the tavern by the Cross lYoure right said the jurymen to Thurstan Drink up said Thurstan to the jurymen Im your man said the jurymen to Jacob Slip this in your fob said Jacob to the jurymen -Then they reeled back to the court house arm-in-arm and when the six good men of Maughold had clambered up to their places again the jurors box contained several quarts more alt than before The jury did not agree on a verdict and the Deemster dismissed them with hot reproaches But some justice to Greeba seemed likely to come of this wild farce of law for an advocate who had learned what her brothers were doing for her got up a case against them for lack of a better brief and so far prevailed on her behalf that the Deemster ordered that each of the six should pay her eight pounds yearly as an equivalent for the share of land they had unlawfully withheld Now Red Jason had spent that day among the crowd at the courthouse and his hot blood had shown as red as his hair through his tanned cheeks while he looked on at the doings of Thurstan of the swollen eyes and Jacob of the foxy face He stood up for a time at the back like a statue of wrath with a dirty mist of blood dancing before it Then his loathing and scorn getting the better of him he cursed beneath his breath in Ice landic and Engiish and his restless hands scraped in and out of his pock ets as if they itched to fasten on somebodys throat or pick up some thing as a dog picks upa rat All he could do was to curl his lip in a ter rible grin like the grin of a mastiff until he caught a sidelong glimpse of Greeoas face with the traces of tears upon it and then being unable to control any longer the unsatisfied yearning of his soul to throttle Jacob and smash the ribs of Thurstan and give dandified John a backhanded facer he turned tail and slunk out of the place as if ashamed of himself that he was so useless When all was over he stalked off to but too nervous to settle to his work that day he went away in the even ing in the direction of Lague not thinking to call there yet powerless to keep away Greeba had returned from Ramsey alone being little wishful for com pany so heavy was her heart She nad seen how her brothers had tried to rob her and how beggarly was tae help the law could give her for though the one might order the others might not obey So she had sat ner self down in her loneliness thinking that she was indeed alone in the world witn no one to look up to any more and no strong hand to rest on It was just then that Jason pushed open the door of the porch and stood on the threshold in all the quiet strength or his untainted young man hood and the calm breadth of his simple manner Greeba may I come in he said in a low tone Yes she answered only just aud ibly and then he entered She aid not raise her eyes and he did not offer his hand but as he stood beside her she grew stronger and as she sat before him he felt that a hard lump that had gaered at his heart was melting away Listen to me Greeba he said I know all your troubles and Im very sorry for them No thats not what I meant to say but Im at a loss for words Greeba Yes Doesnt it seem as if Fatet meant us to come together you and I The world has dealt very ill with both of us thus far But you are a woman and I am a man and only give me the right to fight for you As he spoke he saw the tears spring to her eyes and he paused and his wandering fingers found the hand that hung by her side Greeba he cried again but she stopped the hot flow of the words that she saw were coming Leave me now she said Dont speak to me today no not today Jason Go go He obeyed her without a word and picking up his cap from where it had fallen at his feet he left her sitting there with her face covered by iier hands She had suddenly bethought herself of Michael Sunlocks that she had pledged her word to wait for him that she had written to him and that his answer might come at any time Next day she went down to the post office at Ramsey to inquire for a let ter None had yet come for her but a boat from the Shetlands that might fetch mails from Iceland would arrive within three days Prompt to that time she went down to Ramsey again but though the boat had put into harbor and discharged its mails there was still no letter for her The ordi nary Irish trader between Dublin and Reykavik was expected on its home ward trip in a week or nine days more and Greebas heart lay low and waited In due course the trade came but no letter for her came with it Then her hope broke down1 Sun locks had forgotten her perhaps he cared for her no longer it might even be that he loved some one else And so with the fall of her hope her wo manly pride arcse and she asked her self very haughtily but with the great tears in her big dark eyes what it mattered to her after all Only she was very lonely and so weary and heart sick and with uo one to look to for the cheer of life She was still at Lague where her eldest brother was now sole master and he was very cold with her for he had taken it with mighty high dudgeon that a sister of his should have used the law against him So feeling how bitter it was to eat the bread of another she had even begun to pinch herself of food and to sit at meals but rarely But Jason came again about a fort night after the trial and he found Greeba alone as before She was sit ting by the porch in the cool of the summer evening combing out the plaits of her long brown hair and looking up at Barrule that was heav v ing out large and black in the sun down with a night cap of silver vapor over its head in the clouds I can stay away- no longer ne said with his eyes down Ive tried to stay away and cant and the days creep along So think no ill of me if I como too scon Greeba made him no answer hut thought within herself that if he had stayed away a day longer he must have stayed a day too long Its a weary heart Ive borne he said since I saw you last and you bade me leave you and I obeyed though it cost me dear But let that go Still she did not speak and looking up into her face he saw how pale she was and weak and ill as he thought GreeDa he cried what has hap pened But she only smiled and gave him a look of kindness and said that nothing was amiss with her Yes by the Lord something is amiss he said with his blood m his face in an instant What is it he cried What is it Only that I have not eaten much today she said thats all Ail he cried All He seemed to understand every thing at a glance as if the great power of nis love had taught him Now by God he said and shook nis fist at the house in front of him Hush Greeba whispered it s my own doing 1 am loth to ue be holden to any one least of all to such as forget me The sweet tenderness of herlook softened him and he cast down his eyes again and said GreeDa there is one who can never forcer vnn mnrnine and me ht vnn are witu him for he loves you deany ay GreeDa as never maiden was loved by any one since the world began iMo there isnt the man born Greeba who loves a womn as he loves you for he has nothing else to love in all the wide world She looked up at him as he spoke and saw the courage in his eyes and that he who loved her stood as a man beside her At that her heart swelled and her eyes began to fill and e saw her tears and knew tnat he had won her and he plucked her to his Dreast with a wild cry of joy and she lay there and wept while he whispered to her through her hair My love my love love of my life he whispered I was so lonely she murmured You shall be lonely no more he whispered no more my love no more and his soft words stole over her drooping head He stayed an hour longer by her side laughing much and talking greatly and when he went off she heard him break into a soft song as he passed out at the gate Then being once more alone she sat and tried to compose herself won dering if she should ever repent what she had done so hastily and if she could love this man as he well de served and would surely wish Her meditations were broken by the sound of Jasons voice He was coming back with his happy step and singing as merrily as he went What a blockhead I am he said clieerily popping his head in at the door I forgot to deliver you a let ter that the postmaster gave me when I was at Ramsey this morning You see its from Iceland Good news from your father I trust God bless him So saying he pushed the letter into Greebas hand and went his way jauntily singing as before a gay song of his native country The letter was from Michael Sun locks CHAPTER IV THE RISE OF MICHAEL SUNLOCKS Dear Greeba the letter ran I am sorely ashamed of my long silence which is deeply ungrateful toward your father and very ungracious to wards me Though something better than four years nave passed away since I left the little green island tne time has seemed to fly more swiftly than a weavers shuttle and I have been immersed in many interests and beset by many anxieties But I well Know that nothing can quite excuse me and I would wrong the truth if I were to say that among fresh scenes and fresh faces I have borne about me day and night the momory of all I left behind So I shall not pretend to a loyalty whereof I have given you no assurance but will just pray of you to take me for what I truly am a rather thankless fellow who nas sometimes found himself in danger of forgetting old friends in the making of new ones and been very heartily ashamed of himself Nevertheless the sweetest thoughts of these four years have been thoughts of the old home and the dearest hope of my heart has oeen to return to it some day That day has not yet come but it is coming and now I seem to see it very near So dear Greeba for give me if you can or at least bear me no grudge and let me tell you of some of the strange things that have befallen me since we parted When I came to Iceland it was not to join the Latin school of the ven erable Bishop Petersen a worthy man and good Christion whom it has become my happiness to call my friend but on an errand of mercy whereof I may yet say much but can tell you little now The first of my duties was to find a good wonjan and true wife who had suffered deeply by the great fault of another and having found her to succor her in her distress It says much for the depth oT her misfortunes that though she had been the daughter of the Governor General and the inhabit ants of the capital of Iceland are fewer than two thousand in all I was more than a week in Reykjavik before I came upon any real news of her When I found her at last she was in her grave The poor soul nad died within two months of my landing on these shores and the joiner of tne cathedral was putting a little wooden peg inscribed with the initials of her name over her grave in the forgot ten quarter of the cemetery where the dead poor of this place are buried Such was the close of the -first chap ter of my quest To be continued TALMAGES SEEMON BLESSINGS SHOWERED UPON AMERICAN PEOPLE Draws Comparisons Between Oar Own and Other Countries Our Duty to Ex tend These Blessings to the World Some Happy Conditions Copyright 1900 Louis Klopsch N T Washington Dec 16 Dr Talmage preaches a discourse of Christian pa triotism and shows the resources of our country and predicts the time when all the world will have the same blessings His two texts are Reve lation xxi 13 On the south three gates Psalm cxlvii He hath not dealt so with any nation Among the greatest needs of our country is more gratitude to God for the unparalleled prosperity bestowed upon us One of my texts calls us to international comparison What na tion on all the planet has of late had such enlargement of commercial op portunity as is now opening before this nation Cuba and Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands brought into close contact with usand through steamship subsidy and Nicaragua canal which will surely be afforded by congress all the republics of South America will be brought into most active trade with the United States On the south three gates While our next door neigh bors the southern republics and neigh boring colonies imported from Euro pean countries 3000 miles away 675 000000 worth of goods in a year only 126000000 worth went from the Unit ed States 126000000 out of 675000 000 only one fifth of the trade ours European nations taking the four fin gers and leaving us the poor thumb Now all this is to be changed There is nothing but a comparative ferry be tween the islands which have recently come under our protection and only a ferry between us and Bolivia Peru Paraguay Uruguay Venezuela Salva dor Nicaragua Colombia Costa Rica Equador Brazil while there are raging seas and long voyage between them and Europe By the mandate of the United States all that will be changed through new facilities of transporta tion The Nations Advertisements In anticipation of what is sure to come I nail on the front door of this nation an advertisement Wanted One hundred thousand men to build railroads through South America and the island of the sea un der our protection Wanted A thousand telegraph op erators Wanted One hundred million dol lars worth of dry goods from the great cities of the United States Wanted All the clocks you can make at New Haven- and all the brains you can spare from Boston and all the bells you can mold at Troy and all the McCormick reapers you can fashion at Chicago and all the hams you can turn out at Cincinnati and all the rail road iron you can send from Pitts burg and all the statesmen that you can spare from Washington Wanted Right away wanted by new and swifter steamers wanted by rail train lawyers to plead our cause Wanted Doctors to cureour sick Wanted Ministers to evangelize our population Wanted Professors to establish our universities On the south three gates yea a thousand gates South America and all the islands of the sea approximate are rightfully our commercial do main and the congress of the United States will see to it that we get vhat belongs to us And then tides oi ravel will be somewhat diyerted from Europe to our islands at the south and to the land of the Aztecs Much of the 125000000 yearly expended by Americans in Eu rope will be expended in southern ex ploration in looking at some of the ruins of the 47 cities which Stephens found only a little way apart and in walking through the great doorways and over the miracles of mosaic and along by the monumental glories of another civilization and ancient Am erica will with cold lips of stone kiss the warm lips of modern America and to have seen the Andes and Popocate petl will be deemed as important as to have seen the Alpine and Balkan ranges and there will be fewer people spoiled by foreign travel and in our midst less of the poor and nauseating imitation of a brainless foreign swell Some Happy Conditions Again in this international compar ison notice the happy condition of our country as compared with most coun tries Russia under the shadow of the dreadful illness of her great and good emperor who now more than any man in all the world represents peace on earth good will to men and whose empress near the most solemn hour that ever comes to a womans soul is anxious for him to whom she has given hand and heart not for political reasons but through old fashioned love such as blesses our humbler dwellings India under the agonies of a famine which though somewhat lift ed has filled hundreds of thousands of graves and thrown millions into or phanage Austria only waiting for her genial Francis Joseph to die so as to let Hungary rise in rebellion and make the palace of Vienna quake with insur rection Spain in Carlist revolution and pauperized as seldom any nation has been pauperized Italy under the horrors of her kings assassination China shuddering with fear of dismem berment her capital in possession of foreign nations After a review of the condition in other lands can you find a more appropriate utterance in regard to our country than the ex clamation of the text He hath not dealt so with any nation Compare the autumnal report of harvests in America this year and the harvests abroad Last summer I crossed the continent of Europe twice and I saw no such harvests as are spoken of in this statement Hear it all you men and women who want everybody to have enough to eat and wear I have to tell you that the corn crop of our country this year is one of the four largest crops on record 2105000000 bushels The cotton crop though smaller than at some times will on that account bring big ger prices and so cotton planters of the south are prosperous The wheat fields have provided bread enough and to spare The potato crop one of the five largest crops on record 211000000 bushels Twenty two million two hundred thousand swine slain and yet so many hogs left The Story of Prosperity But now I give you the comparative exports and imports which tell the story of national prosperity as noth ing else can Excess of exports over imports 544400000 Now let all pes simists hide themselves in the dens and caves of the earth while all grate ful souls fill the churches with dox ology Notice also that while other countries are at their wits ends as to their finances this nation has money to lend Germany we are glad to see you in Wall street If you must bor row money we have it all ready How much will you have Russia we also welcome you into our money markets Give us good collateral Meanwhile Denmark will you please accept our offer of 3000000 for the island of St Thomas My hearers there is no na tion on earth with such healthy con dition of finances We wickedly waste an awful amount of money in this country but some one has said it is easier to manage a surplus than a deficit Besides all this not a disturbance from St Lawrence river to Key West or from Highlands of New Jersey to Golden Horn of the Pacific Sectional controversies ended The north and south brought into complete accord by the Spanish war which put the Lees and the Grants on the same side Ver monters and Georgians in the same brigade And since our civil war we are all mixed up Southern men have married northern wives and northern men have married southern wives and your children are half Mississippian and half New Englander and to make another division between the north and the south possible you would have to do with your child as Solomon proposed with the child brought be fore him for judgment divide it with the sword giving half to the north and half to the south No there is noth ing so hard to split as a cradle In other lands there is compulsory mar riage of royal families some bright princess compelled to marry some dis agreeable foreign dignitary in order to keep the balance of political power in Europe the ill matched pair fighting out on a small scale that which would have been an international contest sometimes the husband having the bal ance of power and sometimes the wife NThe Question of Wages Again in this international compar ison there is not a land whose wages and salaries are so large for the great mass of the people In India four cents a day and find yourself is good wages in Ireland in some parts eight cents a day for wages in England 1 a day good wages vast populations not get ting as much as that in other lands 50 cents a day and 25 cents a day clear on down to starvation and squalor Look at the great popula tions coming out of the factories of other lands and accompany them to their homes and see what privations the hard working classes on the other side of the sea suffer The laboring classes in America are 10 per cent bet ter off than those in any other coun try under the sun 20 per cent 40 per cent 50 per cent The toilers of hand and foot have better homes and better furnished How much wages do you get is a question I have asked in Calcutta in St Petersburg in Berlin in Stockholm in London in Paris in Auckland New Zealand in Sydney Australia in Samoa in the Sandwich -- I equerries in ordinary crown equerry hereditary grand raiconer - berlain clerk of the kitchen grooms in waiting lords In waiting f s oC the court chamber sergeant-at-arms barge master and teSl ladies oi bed chamber women eight the bedchamber and so on and so on All this is only a type of the fabulous expense of foreign governments au this Is paid out of the sweat and blood of the people Are the people satis fied However much the Germans like William and Austria likes Francis her glori Joseph and England likes ous queen these stupendous govern mental expenses are built on a groan of dissatisfaction as wide as Europe If it were left to the people of England or Austria or Germany or Russia establish whether these expensive ments should be kept up do you doubt what the vote would be Now is it not better that we be overtaxed and ihP siirniiis be distributed all over the land than to have it built up and piled up inside the piilaces Question of Monopolies Again the monopolistic oppression is less in America than anywhere else The air is full of protest because great houses great companies great indi viduals are building such fortunes Stephen Girard and John Jacob Astor stared at in their time for their august fortunes would not now be pointed at in the streets of Washington or Philadelphia or New York as anything remarkable These vast fortunes for some imply pinched ness of want for others A growing protuberance on a mans head implies illness of the whole body These es tates of disproportionate size weaken all the body politic But the evil is nothing with us compared with the monopolistic oppression abroad Just look at the ecclesiastical establish ments on the other side of the sea Look at those great cathedrals built at fabulous expense and supported by ecclesiastical machinery and some times in an audience room that would hold a thousand people twenty or thir ty people gather for worship The popes income is 8000000 a year Cathedrals of statuary and braided arch and walls covered with master pieces of Rubens and Raphael and Michael Angelo Against all the walls dash seas of poverty and crime and filth and abomination Ireland today one vast monopolistic visitation About 45000000 people In Great Britain and yet all the soil owned by about 32000 Statistics enough to make the earth tremble Duke of Devonshire owning 9600Q acres in Derbyshire Duke of Richmond owning 300000 acres around Gordon castle Marcus of Bredalbane going on a journey of 100 miles in a straight line all on his own property Duke of Sutherland has an estate wide as Scotland which dips into the sea on both sides Unfortunate as we have it here it is a great deal worse there While making the international comparison let us look forward to the time which will surely come when all nations will have as great advantages as our own As surely as the Bible is true the whole earth is to be garden Ized and set free Even the climates will change and the heats be cooled and the frigidity warmed Its NATURE IS -STRANGE Impulses Illustrated by Teamster and Hungry Dog Episode Seated at the edge of the curbing was a weary teamster while near by stood his horses crunching away at their noon portion of oats says the Chicago News Heaving a deep sigh the teamster slowlv ambled to tho wa ggon and from under the seat drew forth a good sized dinner pail Resuming his seat upon the curb he mechanically removed the cover from the lunch bucket and began to eat His mind was far away from his sur roundings and with an occasional ominous shake of the head he mutter ed the thoughts that burdened his brain The appearance of a lean hungry-looking dog resting upon its haunches directly in front of him at tracted his attention The animal gazed longingly at each morsel of food Islands so I am not talking an which passed the mans lios The mn straction The stone masons and car- shied a bit of bread at the dog who penters and plumbers and mechanics and artisans of all kinds in America have finer residences than the major ity of the professional men in Europe You enter the laborers house on our side of the sea and you find upholstery and pictures and instruments of music His children are educated at the best schools His life is insured so that in case of sudden demise his family shall not be homeless Let all American workingmen knew that while their wages may not be as high as they would like to have them America is the paradise of industry Expenses of Government It is said that in our country we have more dishonesty in the use of public funds than in other lands The difference is that in our country al most every official has a chance to steal while in other lands a few peo ple absorb so much that the others have no chance at appropriation The reason they do not steal is because they cannot get their hands on it The governments of Europe are so expen sive that after the salaries of the royal families are paid there is not much left to misappropriate The emperor of Russia has anice little salary of 8 210000 The emperor of Austria has a yearly salary of 4000000 Victoria the queen has a salary of 2200000 The royal plate of St James palace is worth 10000000 There is a host of attendants all on salaries some of them 5000 a year some 6000 a year Comptroller of the household mistress of the robes captain of gold stick lieu tenant of silver stick clerk of the powder closet pages of the back staire master of the horse chief equerry r devoured it eagerly One piece of food after another he tossed to the emaci ated animal until the contents of pail had disappeared all but a tough and dangerous doughnut Breaking jir V piece from the sinker he bade Emi eat it The animal sniffed but refused to take it in its teeth Thinking that by tossing the morsel to the ground the animal might eat it he did so but the dog pushed it aside with his nose and disdained to eat it This act on the part of the dog so angered him that he arose slowly and landed a vi cious kick in the dogs ribs which sent the poor animal into the gutter where it lay writhing in agony So you too refused to take what I would rob myself of after having sacrificed ev erything else said the teamster with that remark and a parting kick at the prostrate animal he hastily re moved the nosebags from the horses mounted to the seat and drove away Horse Shoes for Luck The custom of keeping horseshoes for luck is said to have originated at the lime when in every home was the picture of the patron saint About the head of the saint was the distinguish ing halo which was frequently made of metal sometimes the shape of a horseshoe When anything happened to the picture the halo was still kept and remained fastened to the door la order that the saints Influence might still prevail As the bit of metal was the most substantial part of the pic ture it soon became the custom to make a charm of this part only and the horseshoe followed logically as a prevention against evil y i 3